Hi all,
When I was looking to buy an '80's Imp, I found one on a lot in Utica, NY.
Actually there were two, 1981's, a black one with red leather, and a white
one, red leather. The black one is a parts car. It HAD a back yard
conversion to carb, but the carb was gone. The dash is gone, too. The white
one was/is in running order, with EFI intact and a working sunroof. I took
it out for a spin. It leaked gas, and the oil light stayed on all the time.
(Needless to say I didn't drive it too far.)
The body on the black one was/is in decent shape. The white one however, is
pretty rusted around the wheel wells and the gas filler. The guy who owns
them had started to repair it, but . . . (He does body work on the side.)
He owns 2 or 3 more that are in really nice shape. He had a silver 1981,
blue leather for sale at one time.
If anyone is interested I can forward his name, address and phone number if
you want.
Note: this was 11 years ago. The black and white cars are still there. The
white one is right where I parked it.
What happened was, my brother found my 1983 on a lot in Cazenovia NY. I went
to see it, and fell in love. I took it for a drive, and the radiator blew!
I made a deal (that included a new radiator) and she was mine. (I've seen
only one other '83 ever.)
Now the sad part. A few weeks after buying my '83, I spotted a Glacier Blue
'81 on another lot downtown. I stopped in (in my '83) and talked with the
guy. He wanted to know if I collected Imps. (I wish.) Well I took a look
and the car was in decent shape, rust around the rear wheel wells, soiled
cloth interior, factory carb, snowflake mags (red caps) and . . . it was a
Frank Sinatra edition. ALL the bages and the console were there.
I remember thinking, HA, someone converted an '81 to look like a FS edition.
The guy wanted $2500.00 for it. I had just bought mine, so I said forget it.
Well, I had already joined the Imperial Owners Club International and was in
the process of getting the Retrofit Manual (that was just posted here on the
club WEB pages) and happened to mention that car to the guy I got the manual
from. He said "DID YOU BUY IT?!?!" I laughed and asked why.
He told me that there were only about 130 of the Frank Sinatra's built in
'81! It was a RARE beast! More rare than my '83.
Well I went right back down to that lot, but, was too late. They had already
'fixed up' the car. All the tape stripes were gone, replaced by a single big
thick dark poorly-applied stripe. The wheel wells were all Bondo'ed up and
wavy and the whole car had been repainted. It looked really cheesy. The
emblems were put on with regular double-backed tape. At least the paint ws
the right color.
I was a mess. I almost cried. Hopefully whoever bought it was going to
properly restore it.
Well, that's my sad story. Reply personally if you want that name and
address.
Dan Wing
Imp1983@xxxxxxx
'83 Imp, beige, wire wheels, factory carb.
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